Old Port Advisors Increases Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Old Port Advisors lifted its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,122 shares of the payment services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Old Port Advisors’ holdings in American Express were worth $304,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of American Express by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,447,441 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,923,399,000 after purchasing an additional 662,382 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of American Express by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,595,370 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $590,940,000 after purchasing an additional 195,876 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of American Express by 22.2% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,129,175 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $485,525,000 after purchasing an additional 387,166 shares in the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd purchased a new position in shares of American Express in the 1st quarter valued at about $433,709,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in American Express by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,798,742 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $408,494,000 after buying an additional 224,079 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other news, insider Anre D. Williams sold 77,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.26, for a total transaction of $21,049,740.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,656 shares in the company, valued at $30,176,150.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXP has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on American Express from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on American Express from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on American Express from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Hsbc Global Res lowered American Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on American Express from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $253.09.

American Express Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of American Express stock opened at $270.51 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $190.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.91, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $141.73 and a fifty-two week high of $286.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $264.58 and a 200 day moving average of $246.51.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The payment services company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $16.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.68 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.94% and a net margin of 15.53%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that American Express will post 13.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.60%.

American Express Profile

American Express Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as integrated payments company in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, Canada, the Caribbean, and Internationally. It operates through four segments: U.S. Consumer Services, Commercial Services, International Card Services, and Global Merchant and Network Services.